LEXINGTON, Va. (Jan. 25, 2020) – The ETSU Track and Field team completed their second event of the season with multiple winners at the VMI Team Challenge in the Corps Physical Training Facility on Saturday.

Highlighting the women’s team, who finished third with 104 points (App State – 121.5, WCU – 105), Lindsey Stallworth and Genevieve Schwarz placed at the top in their respective runs. The men’s team, finishing sixth, had three gold medals on the day: Matthew Scarr, Noah Charles and Miguel Parrilla.

"We had a good meet overall with quite a few podium finishes and personal bests," said ETSU Director of Track and Field George Watts. "We had the benefit of competing against some of our conference foes and getting a feel for the conference meet facility."

Track Highlights from VMI Team Challenge

• The men dominated the 3000m run, placing four in the top five led by Matthew Scarr with a time of 8:18.02. Ben Varghese followed in second at 8:37.23 while Seth Bowden finished just behind with 8:40.49. Ben O’Connor placed fifth with a time of 8:52.94
• Genevieve Schwarz and Heather Feuchtenberger combined for 16 points as they took a first-third finish respectively in the mile run. Schwarz finished nearly two seconds ahead of the field with a 5:02.60 time while trailed slightly by Feuchtenberger with a 5:04.34 mark.
• The Bucs dominated in the men’s mile as well, placing first-second-fourth in the event. With a winning time of 4:23.08, Noah Charles beat out teammate Gavin Cooper, the freshman finishing his first collegiate run with a time of 4:23.27. Freshman counterpart Myles Stoots grabbed fourth place with a time of 4:25.91.
• Lindsey Stallworth picked up a gold in the 3000m with a time of 10:17.86 while junior Makayla Shaw’s 10:31.38 time proved good for third place.
• Grabbing another gold, freshman Miguel Parrilla secured first in the 800m run, finishing with a time of 1:53.65 as the rookie held the lead at every 200m split.
• In the women’s 60m sprint, Mekayla Brown cruised to a qualifying time of 7.64 to place first in her heat in prelims. Brown went on to grab silver, just over a tenth off of first with a 7.59 second finish.
• A first in fourth finish in the women’s 60m hurdles, ETSU’s Kennedi Johnson and Kendra Whitehurst went 1-2 in their respective heat to advance to the finals. Johnson finished second in the finals besting her prelim time with a 8.84 second finish. Whitehurst placed sixth with a time of 9.23 seconds.
• Julia Karsten finished fourth place in the 800m run, nearly grabbing third as the freshman finished with a 2:19.00 time.

Field Highlights from VMI Team Challenge

• A second-third finish in the women’s triple jump highlighted the action in the field events, as Aliyah Hill took silver with a final leap of 12.09m. Brown grabbed her second bronze of the day, beating out third with a leap of 11.91m.
• Jataya Wilson, Jaden Finch and Margaret Hayden went four-five-six in the weight throw. Wilson tossed her best attempt at 16.32 while Finch and Hayden tossed 16.20m and 16.12m respectively.
• Opening the meet in the weight throw, Kolin Miller mustered a 4^th place finish with a toss of 15.92m. Miller matched his fourth place with another in the shot put, tossing 13.04m. Noah Shelton and Spencer Fejeran grabbed seventh and eighth.
• Wilson grabbed a fifth place finish in the shot put, finishing with a best of a 13.07m toss to gain four points for her team.

Thoughts from Coach Watts

On individual performances: "We had really good meets from Mekayla Brown, Aliyah Hill, Kennedi Johnson, Genevieve Schwarz and Lindsey Stallworth on the women's side. Matt Scarr and Miguel Parrilla on the men's side also competed strong.

On the overall meet: "We had almost all of our women throwers set personal bests in the weight throw. We were strong in all of the event areas and that is something we really strive for throughout the year."

On the youth of the team: "We have a young team and I like the chemistry of both the men's and women's groups."

On the next event: "We go back at it this coming weekend as we host the Buccaneer Track and Field Invitational. We also recognize our seniors at this meet so it's a pretty significant meet for our program." 

Women's Team Results

1          APP      121.5

2          WCU    105

3          ETSU    104

4          VCU     93.5

5          NSU     74

6          Ohio    44.5

7          VMI     37

8          CIT­­­­­­­       5.5

Men’s Team Results

1          WCU    127

2          APP      113

3          NSU     88

4          VCU     85

5          VMI     70

6          ETSU    68

7          CIT       55

For a full list of results the VMI Team Challenge, use the link on the right side of this page.

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For more information on ETSU track and field, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the track and field pages. Also, follow the program on Twitter @ETSU_TF_XC and on Instagram at the handle @etsuxctf.